Julian Assange to run for Australian Senate in 2013

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has revealed his intention to run for a Senate seat in the 2013 Australian federal election. Assange, 41, said plans to set up a WikiLeaks political party were "significantly advanced" and had received support from a number of "worthy people" in his home country.

In an interview with Fairfax Media, he said his party would promote openness in government and politics and combat growing intrusions on individual privacy. He said he would be eligible to register as an overseas voter in either New South Wales or Victoria and would shortly take a "strategic decision" about which state he would contest.

Assange, who was born in Queensland, has been holed up inside Ecuador's embassy in London since June in a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning over rape and sexual assault allegations. He has stated he would happily go to Stockholm, providing the Swedish government guaranteed he would not be extradited on to the US.

The WikiLeaks party would require 500 members listed on the electoral roll for it to be registered with Australia's electoral commission. If Assange is elected but unable to return to Australia to take up his position, a nominee would occupy a Senate seat.

Not sure about this guy. He was on Freedom Watch a while back, so he can't be all bad. He does pander to socialists most of the time and holds some very un-libertarian views, but he has praised libertarians too. It'll certainly be interesting if he wins his Senate race.

Here are some quotes from him about his view on libertarianism:

Reporter: Would you call yourself a free market proponent?

Assange: Absolutely. I have mixed attitudes towards capitalism, but I love markets. Having lived and worked in many countries, I can see the tremendous vibrancy in, say, the Malaysian telecom sector compared to U.S. sector. In the U.S. everything is vertically integrated and sewn up, so you don’t have a free market. In Malaysia, you have a broad spectrum of players, and you can see the benefits for all as a result. It's not correct to put me in any one philosophical or economic camp, because I've learned from many. But one is American libertarianism, market libertarianism. So as far as markets are concerned I'm a libertarian, but I have enough expertise in politics and history to understand that a free market ends up as monopoly unless you force them to be free.

Who has been your most critical public supporter?
John Pilger, the Australian journalist, has been the most impressive. And the other is Dan Ellsberg. It's the amount of time I've spent with him, both in front of and behind the scenes. When people are working in front of the scenes, in public, it is often because it is helpful to them. One never really knows what the true allegiance is. But when someone puts it on the line both publicly and privately, that's a sign of true character. Ron Paul did come out and make an impassioned and rational speech. It has not been the soft liberal left, the pseudo left that has defended us. In fact, they have run a mile. It has been strong activists who have a long record of fighting for what they believe in, both on the libertarian right and on the left.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Tuesday vowed to be a "libertarian" and campaign for more openness in government if he is successful in gaining a seat in the Australian Senate.

The article says "If Assange is elected but unable to return to Australia to take up his position, a nominee would occupy a Senate seat." Not sure who would do the nominating though, Assange/the Wikileaks Party or the Prime Minister.